Malaria Cases on the Rise in the US

Reported incidents of malaria in the United States has reached a 40-year high in 2011, according to a report released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday. 

The latest report noted 1,925 cases of malaria that year, the highest number since 1971. That represents a 14 percent increase from 2010 to 2011.

The report noted that five people died from malaria or associated complications in 2011.

Nearly 70 percent of the cases were imported from countries in Africa, and nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of those cases were acquired in West Africa. For the first time, India was the country from which the most cases were imported, CDC officials said.

"Malaria isn't something many doctors see frequently in the United States, thanks to successful malaria elimination efforts in the 1940s," CDC director Dr. Thomas Frieden said in an agency news release. "The increase in malaria cases reminds us that Americans remain vulnerable and must be vigilant against diseases like malaria because our world is so interconnected by travel."

Malaria is  a disease that is transmitted by infected mosquitoes. There were about 219 million cases of malaria worldwide in 2010 and about 660,000 deaths from the disease. New York City had the most cases in 2011, with 238 cases, the CDC team said.

In 2011, 91 cases were reported in military personnel. Any military personnel, including soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen deployed in malaria-ridden zones are now given drugs to prevent infection.